Hi to everyone.
Classic material is a MDF.
Also HDF, and their variations and types, depending on the type of wood, glues, additional materials used.
Plywood is also increasingly popular. Baltic birch is a classic, but lately I've been reading about bamboo plywood. There are also different varieties.
Artificial stone and its extensive proprietary variations. Many praise, but still not so popular.
Kevlar concrete. I met it rarely, I'm not sure that it is more effective than the previous ones, I don't know what was more evident here - acoustic properties or marketing.
Maybe best - aluminum?
Either just the front panel, 1 cm thick, 0.4 inches, as in Technics SB-1000, or the entire case as in Krell MRS, the front panel is 2.5 inches 6.3 cm, and the sides are 1 inch 2.5 cm, also found the deep sea sound Mariana 18SA is made of 6061-T6 aluminum 3/8 inches thick. Many expensive companies make aluminum bodie - Magico, Goldmund, Preсide.
Zinc alloy - used in Realistic speakers.
When I was searching, this topic seemed interesting.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/aluminium-speaker-cabinets.373719/
Finally, lead, it is ideal if it were not for the toxicity. But it can be painted. In any case, despite its perfection, I have not encountered lead boxes in acoustics.
Thank you.
Classic material is a MDF.
Also HDF, and their variations and types, depending on the type of wood, glues, additional materials used.
Plywood is also increasingly popular. Baltic birch is a classic, but lately I've been reading about bamboo plywood. There are also different varieties.
Artificial stone and its extensive proprietary variations. Many praise, but still not so popular.
Kevlar concrete. I met it rarely, I'm not sure that it is more effective than the previous ones, I don't know what was more evident here - acoustic properties or marketing.
Maybe best - aluminum?
Either just the front panel, 1 cm thick, 0.4 inches, as in Technics SB-1000, or the entire case as in Krell MRS, the front panel is 2.5 inches 6.3 cm, and the sides are 1 inch 2.5 cm, also found the deep sea sound Mariana 18SA is made of 6061-T6 aluminum 3/8 inches thick. Many expensive companies make aluminum bodie - Magico, Goldmund, Preсide.
Zinc alloy - used in Realistic speakers.
When I was searching, this topic seemed interesting.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/aluminium-speaker-cabinets.373719/
Finally, lead, it is ideal if it were not for the toxicity. But it can be painted. In any case, despite its perfection, I have not encountered lead boxes in acoustics.
Thank you.
For a woofer it is easiest to deal with box issue by pushing potential rrsonances uphigh enuff that they are out of the drivers bandwidth and will notget excited.
MDF is probably one of the worst materials, HDF isa bit better, but the materialof choice is quality plywood — light & stiff (forget lead).
Further, particualrily with a siubwoofer is to use 2 drivers push-push and take advantage of active reaction force cancelation which dramatically lowers the energy going into the box, thus making the box ioad much smaller. We built a test woofer with 2 10s and 15mm BB. Worked REALLY well.
Stranded/fossilized bamboo plywood, is the best sheet material i have ever used — Richlite might be better — and its expense is offset by it just needing a clear coat, and it is VERY hard to ding. It does eat tooling.
dave
MDF is probably one of the worst materials, HDF isa bit better, but the materialof choice is quality plywood — light & stiff (forget lead).
Further, particualrily with a siubwoofer is to use 2 drivers push-push and take advantage of active reaction force cancelation which dramatically lowers the energy going into the box, thus making the box ioad much smaller. We built a test woofer with 2 10s and 15mm BB. Worked REALLY well.
Stranded/fossilized bamboo plywood, is the best sheet material i have ever used — Richlite might be better — and its expense is offset by it just needing a clear coat, and it is VERY hard to ding. It does eat tooling.
dave
I made my 15" driver tapped horns out of BB birch ply back in the day.
No complaints.
Normal / quite loud listening there's very little energy going into the cabinet.
A few audio guests over the years have jumped up to feel the front surface and been amazed they there's no vibrations to speak off.
Of course PA volumes would no doubt change that.
I recently made a pair of SH50 style MEHs out of particle board.
The first one was a test so I used materials I had lying around.
I liked it so much I built the 2nd one🙂
I covered the horn rear with 1.3mm bitumen sheet, the kind used in vans and cars for panel damping, braced the rear enclosure to the horn where possible, and stuck bitumen sheet in the larger areas (directly behind the drivers) that were impossible to brace.
The twin 12" drivers do put out considerable energy in to the enclosure when pumping out kick bass, but there's no cabinet resonance sound.
Visiting hifi friends etc have remarked that "there's no cabinet sound".
I was kind of against particle board.. not any more!
No complaints.
Normal / quite loud listening there's very little energy going into the cabinet.
A few audio guests over the years have jumped up to feel the front surface and been amazed they there's no vibrations to speak off.
Of course PA volumes would no doubt change that.
I recently made a pair of SH50 style MEHs out of particle board.
The first one was a test so I used materials I had lying around.
I liked it so much I built the 2nd one🙂
I covered the horn rear with 1.3mm bitumen sheet, the kind used in vans and cars for panel damping, braced the rear enclosure to the horn where possible, and stuck bitumen sheet in the larger areas (directly behind the drivers) that were impossible to brace.
The twin 12" drivers do put out considerable energy in to the enclosure when pumping out kick bass, but there's no cabinet resonance sound.
Visiting hifi friends etc have remarked that "there's no cabinet sound".
I was kind of against particle board.. not any more!
Concrete.
If anyone says otherwise, it's because their back no longer allows power lifting or they have lost all their friends talking speakers too much.
Sadly, both are true for me.
If anyone says otherwise, it's because their back no longer allows power lifting or they have lost all their friends talking speakers too much.
Sadly, both are true for me.
Thanks Dave.
I see price on Richlite - his price x2.5 then local price on aluminum. 24''x24''x1'' plate - 500USD, local aluminum plate 28''x28'x1.25'' is a 200USD. This a really better then aluminum?
This week I am in the fight building four boxes with 10" woofers. I selected 12 mm Baltic Birch plywood. My goal is to have a finished speaker at about 9 kg (20 Lbs.) so I can lift it following a back injury last year. I am planning to use a crossover around 400Hz, so the goal was to get the lowest panel resonance above 800 Hz. I added four simple braces to segment the side panels in half and the front panels in quarters. I have yet to open the hole for the passive radiator in the back panel. I have yet to put any acoustic foam, fiberglass or foil covered butyl damping against the panels. It looks like I'm around 700 Hz with a high Q currently. My local lumber yard had 5' x 5' sheets and they deliver for a small fee. The box is 17" x 17" x 9".
Here's the measured PSD measured with me knocking centered between the braces on the side panel.
Here are the braces and checking the fit of the 12" passive radiator. Ah the smell of sawdust in the morning!
Here's the measured PSD measured with me knocking centered between the braces on the side panel.
Here are the braces and checking the fit of the 12" passive radiator. Ah the smell of sawdust in the morning!
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Nom idea. I do have some samples. Nice but thicker than i like to use.
Subnds are easy — push-push, light & stiff — quality ply works good enuff. As i said we used 15mm BB (all leftovers i believe) to prove that point.
But they need finishing. Bamboo ply is already pretty much finished (and overkill) and with careful joinery you can make it look like you did some fancy marquetry.
dave
Fiberglass fiber impregnated concrete 1:1:2 with vermiculite aggregate with a network of OC pink fiberglass rebar…..lightweight, dense and super strong. Make sure make A fairly wet mix by adding plasticizer and vibrating the mold.
and DONT use perlite instead of vermiculite…..it doesn’t hold water and you need the binding.
and DONT use perlite instead of vermiculite…..it doesn’t hold water and you need the binding.